


Looking in on another life

by Vicky



Category: Leverage
Genre: Angst, Family, Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-19
Updated: 2017-12-19
Packaged: 2019-02-17 03:21:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13068048
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vicky/pseuds/Vicky
Summary: Whenever Parker comes back from her time alone, there is sadness in her eyes.





	Looking in on another life

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Maddie_Meraki](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maddie_Meraki/gifts).



> This fic was written for the Secret Santa at leverageexchange on dreamwidth. Maddie_Meraki’s prompt was: “Parker has been going off on her own but won’t tell anyone why. One (or all of them) follow her to find out what is going on, but it wasn’t something they could ever expect.” I hope you like this fic. This is set during season 4, when the team was still in Boston.

Parker had gone off on her own yet again. It wasn’t unusual for the Thief to leave them for short periods of time. She was used to being on her own, and adjusting to their makeshift little family wasn’t easy for her. It hadn’t been for any of them, and that was why they understood Parker’s need for solitude.

They had never asked her for her whereabouts and she had never offered the information; not even Hardison knew where she was disappearing to. They all respected her privacy, as long as she was safe and she came back unhurt.

Still, Sophie was beginning to worry. Every time she came back in the last two years or so, there was sadness in her eyes. It would go away within a few hours of her being back with them, but the fact that it was present at all worried the Grifter. Sometimes, she wanted to go to Parker when she came back, ask her if she was alright. But she stopped herself every time. Were she in Parker’s place, she wouldn’t want any of their friends to ask questions she wasn’t ready to answer.

So, it wasn’t really Sophie’s fault when, on a day she was away from the rest of the team, she saw Parker a few feet ahead of her on the sidewalk when she came out of the small café. She didn’t even register that she was following her friend until they reached a more residential area. She knew she should stop and go back to her shopping, but her curiosity got the better of her. When Parker stopped, Sophie almost expect her to turn and was ready to see the disappointment on her face when she saw her. She was surprised when the younger woman did nothing of that and instead started to climb on a tree.

Now even more curious than ever, Sophie decided to stay put and watch the scene before her play out.

 

###

 

From her seat on the tree branch, Parker was looking at the family inside the house. They were all in the living-room, the adults sitting on the couch and the children on the floor. She couldn’t hear what they were saying, but they looked happy. They were laughing at something one of the children said.

She had never been part of such a scene when she was a child. She had changed foster homes so often that she had never been able to bond with the families and the other children. Sometimes, she felt that they didn’t even want her there. At first, she would be hurt, but then, she had learnt to put walls up around herself. It wasn’t until she had met the team – her friends, her _family_ – that they slowly started coming down. She had learnt that feeling, even those that hurt, were a part of her and that she couldn’t constantly push them away.

Her eyes and thoughts went back to the scene playing on the other side of the window. Sometimes, she wondered how different she would have been had she been part of this life. Would she still be a thief had Archie brought her home to be a member of his family? Would she have met Nate, Sophie, Eliot and Hardison? Or would she live a life opposite the one she had now? Those were questions she would never be able to answer.

Archie had honed her skills as a thief, but he had kept her hidden from his family. Early on in their relationship, she had often dreamt of him coming one day and telling her that it was time for her to meet his family and come live with them as one of his daughters. But this moment had never happened. To this day, she knew that his family didn’t know she even existed.

She would never be part of the kind of scenes she was looking in, now. She didn’t really want that but, sometimes, she found herself longing for it. When it happened, she would leave her friends and come here. She would climb into the tree and look into the family life in the house. No one ever noticed her; she was a thief, she knew how to observe undetected. But there were times that she wished they knew she was here and they asked her to come in and be part of that life.

The older man looked out the window and, for a moment, Parker thought that he saw her. He looked in her direction, and she even felt his eyes on her. But the next second, his eyes went back to his granddaughter and he laughed at something she said.

It wasn’t always the same scene, but Parker had always seen them happy. Not once had she seen them sad or angry at each other. Those moments probably happened, but never when she was around to witness them. When she was there, they always looked like a happy family. A family she would never be a part of.

Having seen enough, Parker decided to leave and climbed down the tree. She turned away from the house and started walking down the street.

 

###

 

When Parker faced her, Sophie could see the sadness in her eyes, even from afar. Her earlier resolution to stay an observer and not let the Thief know she was here crumbled. She followed her and quickened her pace until she was by Parker’s side.

“Have you been following me?” Parker asked, not taken aback by the brunette’s presence.

“Not at first. It was pure coincidence that I was exiting a café and saw you on the sidewalk. Then, yes, I decided to follow you.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re sad, Parker,” Sophie replied. “I wanted to know what was making you sad.”

“I’m not sad.”

As she said that, Parker stopped walking and turned towards Sophie, hugging her without warning. Hugs from Parker were a rarity; Sophie could count on the fingers of one hand the number of times it had happened. And, as they were rare, Sophie knew that the way Parker was holding onto her meant that she was sad, contrary to what she said.

“Why don’t we got sit down somewhere?” Sophie suggested as she felt Parker’s hold on her lessen.

They went back to the small café Sophie had been in before she saw Parker. They sat down and placed their orders. The Grifter stayed silent, waiting until her friend was ready to start talking. It wasn’t until she took her first sip of hot chocolate that Parker finally talked.

“The house I was watching… It’s Archie’s.”

To say that Sophie was surprised would be an understatement. She had never thought that Parker would be spying on her mentor. But now, her sadness had an explanation; she was looking in on a life that she had never had, despite her closeness with the older thief.

“I don’t know why I always end up here,” Parker continued. “Why I keep wanting to see them. I don’t know them, and they don’t know me.”

“But you know Archie.”

“This isn’t the Archie I know.”

“Because he isn’t a thief when he’s with them? Or because he’s a father and grandfather to them? You know that he’s still Archie either way. Like I’m still me, no matter what people call me. But that’s not the problem, is it?”

Parker stayed silent for a moment, and Sophie gave her time to gather her thoughts. She wasn’t even really expecting an answer; she would respect it if the Thief decided not to answer her question. She knew that Parker didn’t always know how to put words to her feelings, or even to acknowledge them. She was getting better, with Sophie’s help, but there were times when she closed everything off. If this was one of those times, Sophie wouldn’t hold it against her; after all, Parker hadn’t expected her presence and wasn’t ready to talk about her time at Archie’s.

“Why didn’t he want me?” Parker asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

“I can’t answer that, Parker, Only Archie can, if you ask him.”

“I think he knows I’m here. I’m hidden in the tree, but he sometimes looks up towards me. He never said anything but…”

“He knows,” Sophie said, squeezing Parker’s hand. “And one day, he’ll introduce you to his family.”

“Do you think so?”

“Yes.”

Sophie hoped that she wasn’t wrong, but something told her that this moment would come. Archie would realise that he couldn’t keep Parker on the sidelines any longer. It would certainly surprise his family, and he would need to find a way to introduce Parker without telling them about him being a thief, but it would happen.

Sophie saw the sadness leave Parker’s eyes. There was still some left, but it was less present that it had been when they had first sat down. Sophie was confident that, by the time they were back at Nate’s, Parker would be back to her usual, lighter self. She was glad she had been able to be there and help her friend. 

“What about we have dinner, just the two of us, before we go back home?” Sophie asked.

“I thought you had dinner planned with Nate, tonight?” Parker replied, remembering what she had heard that morning, just before Sophie had left.

“Don’t worry, Nate and I will have dinner later…,” Sophie said, smiling enigmatically.

Fin.


End file.
